It is definitely stimulating and challenging for an arranger to create unity between a folk trio and a chamber orchestra; let alone between different styles of music and instrumental playing. The Nordic Symphonic project; with its meeting of the Nordic trio and a classical orchestra; is a great example of the kind of musical cross-fertilisation one can only dream of. In this collaboration Nordic’s intricate swing-based style is set against the broader sound palette of the orchestra: the trio sets off on a whirlwind adventure; with sounds from across the whole planet; and the orchestra follows along.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759) was a baroque cosmopolitan. He was born in the small German town of Halle an der Saale, where his father was a barber and field surgeon. The young Georg Friedrich received his first musical education from the city’s most influential church musician, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, who introduced him to Protestant church music. During a long tour of Italy in the early 18th century, he was introduced to Corelli’s concerti grossi as Carissimi’s cantatas and oratorios. After returning to Germany, Händel took a position at the court in Hanover. In 1714, when the Elector of Hanover became King George I of England and Ireland, Händel followed as his court conductor. It was in England where he wrote most of his compositions, including a large number of operas and the famous oratorios. By the time he died in 1759, he was widely renowned and was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside monarchs and some of the most prominent figures of British history. Since his death, the tradition of annual Händel festivals was established. Handel’s concerto grosso opus 6, 7 in B major is a relatively late work. It was written together with eleven other concerts between 1739-40 in London. At the same time, he began composing his large oratorios belonging to the last group of his works. Some of these concerts were played as entertainment during the breaks when the significant oratorios were given. This orchestral concerto in B major is written as a sonata da Chiesa with the movement sequence slow - fast - slow - fast. Still, it is extended with a boisterous dancing movement called bagpipe or sackpipe as the last. The second movement, Allegro, is a fugue, which has an easy to follow theme thanks to its characteristic beginning. It consists of a repeated note that is rhythmized with two half notes, four quarter notes and eight eighths; a thematic treatment we hear again in Dixit Dominus’ last movement. The third movement, Largo e piano, is a peaceful resting place. Staffan Storm holds high the musical tradition from the early 20th century. His music is distinguished by extraordinary variety, sonic beauty, and solid craftsmanship. Qualities of Darkness is a commissioned work by Ensemble Syd. The work is based on text quotes from four of Händel’s large oratorios, all of which, in one way or another, are about Händel’s relationship to the dark. The combination of mixed choir and string orchestra offers an enormous sound scale and allows for an enhanced dramatic rendition of the lyrics. The eerie sound effects provided by the violins, the colourful contrasts between high and low registers, and the energy flow that emanates from the orchestral part are in focus. In the dramatic third movement, darkness is created through solid orchestral accents. Towards the end of the fourth movement, which speaks of a total solar eclipse, separate individuals appear to complain. We also encounter darkness and anger in Georg Friedrich Händel’s dramatic cantata Dixit Dominus for soloists, choir and orchestra. It was written in 1707 in Rome, probably by order of Cardinal Carlo Colonna, who also made sure that the young German came into contact with the great treasure of Italian church music in this stronghold of Catholicism. The text model is David’s 110th Psalter, which today is no longer included in the Church’s reading series due to its depictions of violence. But for the baroque taste, it suited perfectly. Händel portrays both the power of God and the splendour of the Church, but also emotional scenes. An extreme concentration of dissonance is encountered in the penultimate episode. The movement depicts the warrior who drinks from the brook after the battle. It all ends with majestic praise to God’s glory. Marion Lamberth

Agrell’s sinfonias balance on a threshold in genre history, as the three-movement symphony with an opening sonata form Allegro gradually overtook different suite forms as the central means of instrumental music for larger ensembles. Some of the works prefigure the four-movement symphony that arose fully only after the death of Agrell (for example those composed by Joseph Haydn in the 1760s). The chronology of the sinfonias is difficult to ascertain, but the pioneering work of Agrell scholar Jeannette Morgenroth Sheerin (1952–2020) at the Notre Dame University, Indiana, has laid solid foundations for all future research into Agrell’s instrumental music. Six of the sinfonias are performed by Drottningholms Barockensemble on this album.

Hugo Alfvén, who this year would have celebrated his 150th anniversary, was for decades one of Sweden´s most highly esteemed composer. Many of his compositions for men´s choir and mixed choir number among Sweden´s most beloved. They have become a part of the Swedish choir music´s soul. Twenty of these songs have now been recorded by the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble. A number of these, including A Song of the Youngsters´ Island (En visa om Barnens ö), The Song Thrush (Taltrasten) and Christmas Hymn (Julhymn) are recorded here for the first time. His well-known original songs The Evening (Aftonen), Ambient Mood (Stemning), Butterfly (Papillon), Star of Christmas (Julsång) and others, are also included on this release.

This record is issued in collaboration with the Swedish Musical Heritage at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble consists of 20 singers from northern Sweden and Finland. Earlier this year, the ensemble also issued the records The Cloud of Unknowing and SÀPMI. Erik Westberg has been professor at the Piteå School of Music at the Luleå University of Technology since 2003.

2022 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). He wrote his Mass in G minor (Curwen edition) after the First World War, at the same time as his Pastoral Symphony. Some believe that it is a way for Vaughan Williams to heal the world to write this beautiful music. Vokalensemblen Sundbyberg presents this new release pairing an internationally renowned composer's large a cappella work with the finest contemporary Swedish a cappella music. Vokalensemblen Sundbyberg (the Sundbyberg Vocal Ensemble) consists of music graduates, choral conductors and experienced choral singers. Central to its music-making are the importance of breathing, good intonation and passion. The choir aims to promote the development of newly written Swedish choral music for the church by means of commissions and collaborations with composers, and also to increase people’s familiarity with lesser-known works, not least those by Swedish composers.

Collaborating with composers and commissioning new music is integral to the vocal ensemble’s musical identityAs a professional singer and organist Carl Unander-Scharin knows what can be created when the king of instruments is united with the human voice. The Cloud of Unknowing immediately became a favorite: a musical challenge with rhythmic vitality, as well as sonorous polytonal sections composed with striking expression and sensitivity to the text. The combination of viola and choir is not common but works very well. The collaboration with the violist Kim Hellgen in the project “The Voice of the Viola” has resulted in four commissions. The two most recent are Andreas Tarrodi’s cinematically beautiful Poppies in October and Fredrik Högberg’s unique and clever Why do you Dance? Fredrik Högberg is an important part of the artistic environment of School of Music in Piteå at Luleå University of Technology. Why do you Dance? is his first choral work. Listening to Paula af Malmborg Ward’s Solspel – 55 takter före skymningen brings to mind the image of a snow-covered slope beneath a treeless mountaintop and the flickering sun, where everything is still, yet moving – “wants to become music”. Brett Dean’s Was it a Voice begins with a stream of intricate rhythms in the lower voices which builds up to the culminative “Why seek ye”. Solo passages, rhythmic motives, and long architectonic lines are some of the contrapuntal ideas. The close of the piece is at the same time lovely as well as vocally challenging. Jan Sandström has written nearly 20 pieces for the vocal ensemble. Lux Aeterna for double choir is an early work of the composer which has been paired with a new text. It exemplifies Sandström’s gift for creating rich choral sounds even as a young composer.

The source of inspiration for this album originates from collaborative projects between the Sami artists Frode Fjellheim, Katarina Barruk, Johan Märak and the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble. Frode Fjellheim is best known as the composer of the theme from Disney’s Frozen and through his band Transjoik. This album includes his cinematic A Sister from the North and the sweetly beautiful Mov aalhtere vaerine tjuavka (My Altar is the Mountain that Shines). He composed Bidám vuolle for the 400th anniversary of the town of Piteå. Jan Sandström has carefully created several choral works around traditional joiks. The release begins with the rhythmically charged Jiegaffo, based on a joik by Johan Märak. Suv Dehte (Due to Her) is a three-part work where Katarina Barruk touches the listener with her unique vocal expression. In Min Eallin the Swedish composer Kristin Boussard has set texts by several Sami poets, the youngest of whom is eight years old. The last part of the piece is about those who choose to leave behind a traditional Sami life style and the fear experienced by those remaining,Conductor:will those leaving forget their heritage Mia Makaroff writes of her work Spes (Hope): ”The text from Ecclesiastes explains how humility and wisdom change a person: her face softens and she is no longer dogmatic or violent. This humility and understanding is the key to hope for humanity.

Since the beginning of time the sea has played a key role in all life on Earth. Throughout history composers, authors and poets have been inspired by its thundering power, its grandeur, its calm and its murky depths. There is a huge treasure chest, several hundred years old, to draw from. The songs selected here range from traditional Celtic sea shanties to German national-romanticism and darker tones from our own time. Some are unknown and have not been recorded before, such as the choir’s previous leader Josef Hedar’s setting of Karl Asplund’s Klockbojen (Bell Buoy). Others are better known, such as Hugo Alfvén’s Gryning vid havet (Dawn by the sea) to Sten Selander’s text – a classic in the male voice repertoire.

This new release, recorded at the Helsingborg Concert House in 2019, features Emil Jonasson performing works by Mozart alongside the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stefan Solyom. Emil Jonason (b. 1983) was born and raised on Värmdö outside Stockholm. He started playing clarinet in the municipal music school at the age of 10 – the instrument which back then had the shortest waiting list. With a father who was an amateur jazz clarinetist, he listened early on to world-famous names such as Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Kenny Davern and especially the notorious Spike Jones and his City Slickers. At the age of 17, he was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, and has since studied for Hermann Stefánsson, Martin Fröst, Kjell-Inge Stevensson and Yehuda Gilad. He won the Solofoni competition in Helsingborg at the age of 21, performed Nielsen’s clarinet concerto with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, and at his diploma concert in 2008 he played John Corigliano’s clarinet concerto together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm.

Missa Solemnis (1920-21) is a monumental, hour-long work for choir, a quartet of vocal soloists, organ, piano, and celesta. The work was premiered in 1923 at Engelbrekt Church in Stockholm but has since been seldom performed. The work is now available on album for the first time. This recording is part of the Swedish Musical Heritage project sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The goal of the project is to increase access to and promote the performance of hidden treasures from the Swedish repertoire. Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble is one of Sweden’s leading choirs. The ensemble reaches a large audience thanks to a large number of commissioned works, an extensive audio catalog, and an international reputation. Andreas Hallén (1846-1925) was one of the most important persons in Swedish musical life from 1870 until his death. He was known contemporaneously as an orchestral, opera, and choral conductor in Gothenburg, Malmö, and Stockholm, as well as a critic and ultimately as professor in composition.

REVIEW:

This hour-long Solemn Mass premiered in Stockholm in 1923 was his last major work. Hallen was a founder and conductor of choirs who knew how to write for the voice. While the chromaticism of the music bespeaks his admiration for Wagner, I hear French influences at work. This choir and conductor are among Scandinavia's best and sound like it. The youthful soloists have a grand time with the score, and everything is rendered handsomely by the engineers. What they have dished up for us, in sum, is choral comfort food; juicy tunes, gentle chromaticism, and lots of chances to cut loose and pull way back as the liturgical drama dictates. For the choral singer, that's mac and cheese with chocolate cake for dessert. It's hard to resist.

-- American Record Guide

“This work is based on texts that in various ways have a connection with the northern part of Scandinavia. In my composing, metaphors are always of major importance, but especially so when I was working on Poesis. The texts are a catalyst and the very driving force in the artistic creative process and a fundamental element in all sections of the work. My intention has been to give form to the musical narrative by means of the choir and the human voice from the perspective of the jazz orchestra´s immense musical power. The music moves between the soft and subtle appeal and free improvisation, letting the orchestra´s all-embracing mass of sound occasionally break out into contradictory rhetoric. Poesis was composed in 2017 on commission by the Norrbotten Big Band, the Bohuslan Big Band and the Swedish Arts Council. In this work Erik Westberg has refined the music through his inimitable ability to navigate between subtle choral sonorities and a mature artistic interaction in the context of jazz. It is with considerable modesty, and at the same time elation, that I present this musical work together with Erik Westberg, the Norrbotten Big Band and the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble.” (Örjan Fahlström)

Bringing together Benjamin Britten’s Les Illiuminations and Claude Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées is like peeking behind the door to one of the most mythical bedrooms in literary history. There sit the poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, working frantically away. They write on loose sheets of paper, promissory notes and receipts. The ink drips, the papers are full of wine stains and food scraps. They are unwashed and unshaven. They drink, quarrel and sleep with each other. Verlaine writes texts that will be included in the collection of poems Romances sans paroles, taken by Debussy as a starting point for Ariettes Oubliées. The poems that Rimbaud is working on will much later be published as Les Illuminations.

REVIEW:

Benjamin Britten was 26 years old when he wrote Les illuminations. He had been captivated by Arthur Rimbaud's prose poems and perhaps also by Rimbaud's relationship with Paul Verlaine. On record, it is common to bring the work together with Britten's other orchestral song cycles, such as the Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, Quatre chansons françaises, and Nocturne. Here, a different concept has been chosen instead. Instead of more Britten, we get a song cycle by the then 25-year-old Claude Debussy. He often returned to Verlaine's poetry, and in Ariettes oubliées (Forgotten Little Songs) he has set to music six poems from Verlaine's Romances sans paroles ("Songs without words"). It may seem like a strange title for a collection of poems, but clearly indicates Verlaine's desire to bring poetry closer to music; after all, Mendelssohn called his piano pieces Lieder ohne Worte. Verlaine and Rimbaud wrote their poems in 1871, moreover in the same room.

Debussy's song cycle was written for voice and piano but has been arranged here for the same ensemble as Britten's Les illuminations, i.e. string orchestra. For the delicious arrangement, Tobias Broström claims credit. As soloist we hear the soprano Sofie Asplund and the conductorless orchestra is LuKaS (pronounced Lunds Kammarsolister). Asplund could hardly have wished for a better debut album than this intelligently composed album with delicious music. As an "encore" we also get Debussy's familiar "Clair de lune" (inspired by a poem by Verlaine) in a delicate orchestral arrangement by Daniel Fjellström. The text booklet contains, thankfully, all the poems in French and in translations into English and Swedish.

-- Kulturdelen

When our latest opera soprano star Sofie Asplund makes her album debut, it’s with this song cycle to lyrics by Paul Verlaine, linked with Benjamin Britten’s song cycle “Les illuminations” to lyrics by Arthur Rimbaud. A link that makes the album an almost forbiddingly hot encounter between the two poets and their famous love affair that went so far that one shot the other.

This theatrical dimension is a perfect starting point for Asplund’s dramatic intelligence and mercurial sensibility, capturing the beauty of the cruelest of things, the gasping pulse of the last breath. Which is wonderfully supported here by the Lund Chamber Soloists (LuKas). Asplund throws herself boldly into “this wild performance” as one of the songs puts it. And turns the album into an uncivilised nocturnal party, immersed in whirlpools and in whipping foam.

-- Dagens Nyheter (Martin Nyström)